The Young Lioness
by Sirena2
Summary: This is not an Alanna-going-to-convent story but she gets to act like a lady. Instead of going to the very beginning, the story starts in In the Hands of The Goddess. Alanna decides to take the woman lessons a bit earlier in the book.


Author's Note:

~~ First of all, this is written because I notice that there are a lot of Alanna-going-to-convent fics. I wanted to write my own but then I would just be one in a crowd. So here comes The Young Lioness. It's not about Alanna going to a convent instead of being a knight. I believe that Alanna would not be Alanna if she wasn't in the castle. She is still herself here but this is an alternative. She started taking the woman lessons before the war against Tusaine. I don't know if it will be different from the real book. I just hope you enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: 

I do not own The Song of The Lioness Quartet. Tamora Pierce does. 

~CHAPTER ONE~

Alanna tried to magically make herself deaf with her gift. She knew she couldn't do it and that she was too scared to even do it. She was inside Jonathan's room and unfortunately, at the same time, listening to his bad poetry. Jonathan had forbidden her to laugh before he recited his pieces. It was a royal order; Alanna couldn't do anything. Bad poetry or no, he was still her prince. 

The poetry was for Lady Delia of Eldorne. It said the usual things a maiden would want to hear: praises for her beauty. Alanna couldn't deny that fact. She was a lovely girl, with chestnut hair and bright green eyes. _But somehow she reminds me of a squirrel_, Alanna thought suddenly. Everybody was mad about this new lady. She had only stayed in the castle for some weeks and everybody had been talking about her! Gary and Raoul had fought a duel for her riding gloves. _As if they didn't have enough riding gloves for themselves!_ Alanna proceeded with her thoughts. Douglass and Sacherell were of no consolation. They too acted as addle as a cow. And Jonathan, the love struck prince. He spent his free time writing her terrible poetry. Unlucky for Alanna, she was the first to hear it. 

Alanna patiently tried not to drive herself mad by containing all her laughter. The laughs were already choking in her. She didn't want Jonathan to be angry with her; especially after that horrid episode wherein he accused her of flirting with her to make her act as a boy more believable.

_But the girl did not do anything to you, personally,_ Alanna's reasonable side kicked in as she stared blankly at Jonathan. 

What the others didn't see, she did. Delia treated court romances as a game, the men her toys. She hated to admit it but Jonathan was one of her favorites. They slept together sometimes, but not often. This bothered Alanna and bothered Jonathan worse. He endlessly complained about her other conquests with the other men. Alanna saw that Delia was only toying him. She could make him hers and hers him for one day, and the next, all was forgotten by her. This caused the great and obvious mood swings of Jonathan, from irritated to ecstatic.

It was true that Delia didn't do anything to her. But Alanna felt that way. And she felt that what she did to Jonathan, was something that partially concerns her also.

"What do you think?" Jonathan grinned at her when he stopped. 

Alanna snapped back to reality. "Well, it was good," —_it wasn't_—"but you should try harder. There are a lot of competition when it comes to poetry writing." 

"Do you think writing stories would help? Songs maybe?" 

Alanna stared at her friend in disbelief. Stories? Songs? If his poems were perfectly atrocious, then what about stories and songs?

"I think you should try to master the art of poetry first. Songs and stories are in a much, _much_ higher level than poems," Alanna suggested.

The prince nodded thoughtfully in approval.

Alanna wanted so much to tell him the truth. She decided to leave before her mouth opens and says something not nice. 

As she walked through the corridors she wondered how she could…do something about Delia. 

"The only way to beat an enemy is through the enemy's own game," Alanna suddenly said.

Then she realized that she had to do it _someday_. She would soon be revealed. The revelation meant only that she would not have to be Lord Alan. She had to be Lady Alanna. She would soon be a lady. She would not be forever a boy. 

Alanna sighed. _The sooner it will start, the sooner it will end_, she thought grimly.

She knew who was the right person to ask for help. 


End file.
